Apparatus for making sheet material



Aug 23, l932- T. ROBINSON APPARATUS FOR MAKING SHEET MATERIAL original Filed July 1o, 192e BY NVEM ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 23, 1932 Unirse srArsES PATENT erlicplqn t THOMAS ROBINSON, OF'NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR'TO LANCASTER ASPHALT, INCLOF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION or DELAWARE APPARATUS FOR MAKING- SHET MATERIAL originai application fuea July 10,A 192s, serialA No. zsiesk Divided ana this aiipugation iedNovember 23, 1929. Se'riaiNo; 409,301.' Y

y particularly with apparatus for the manu-V facture of sheet material suitable for use as roll roofing, siding, and the like, the apparatus beingv capable of producing this material and also, of converting it intoindividual roof-V ing elements or shingles. The new apparatus vis of simple inexpensive construction, and produces the'new products at a high output rate and at low cost. Y

Y They sheet material produced by this apparatusis made up of iibrous material and a plastic binder, the fibrous material being of various kinds such as asbestos, vegeta-ble libre including chopped hay, cocoanut iibre and the like, wool felt scrap, bagasse, etc. with which Vin some instances may be mixed suits able amounts of a ller such as clay or finely divided solid Vm aterial such as cinders. rl'he plastic substance employed is preferably-of the bituminous type such as'asphalt of a suit-4 able melt point. Y' i In the newapparatus.; plastic mixtures of fibre and asphalt are sheeted out to form webs and thewebs, produced in successive parts of the machine, are combined into asingle sheet or web which may then be given a coating of wear material such as crushed slate,` etc. Suc-h a sheet is suitable for numerous building` purposes and may be employed` as .roll roofing, siding, partitions, etc. If desired, the sheet material may be converted into in-` dividual building elements or Y shingles .in which event, itis delivered as rapidly as it is produced, l to molding devices which shape and form. -portions thereof to the desired shape and then sever such portions from the sheet and dischargethem in continuous succession.

Since the sheet material produced is made up of loose brcs an d the plastic binder, and can be made inany desired thickness, roll rooting or shingles made from it are much cheaper and may be made much heavier than 'type of sheet material produced;

prepared rooiing now commonly made of rag or lasbestos felt impregnatedV With asphalt. The new productshave a longer life than feltrooiing since there is no felt to deteriorate and warp Or curl and the shingles can be 50: made of tapering thickness so'that they have a heavy butt desirable for the shadow easton the roof and at the same time may belaid flatwithout bulging or being bent.

They-,novel apparatus vincludes means `for mi;A

ceivingthe sheet between them and shaping 7o portions of it to the desired form and excising these portions from, the sheet. For a better understanding ofA the inven-l tion,- reference may be had` to the accompany-V ing drawing, in which y Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view in longitudinal section illustrating one, embodiment of the` invention; .Y j Y Fig. 2 isa similar viewfshowing a modification; i i .Y l r 80 Fig. Sis anenl'arged sectional view of one Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a tapered shinglema'de of the sheet material illustrated in Fig. 3;l Figs. 5 and 6 are views similar to Figs. 3 and lfrespectively, but showingqa dierent type of'sheet material and shingleg- Fig..` 7 is'an edge view. of a different form of shingle;

`product Vis to beput.v K i product is to be used for roofing or in a place' Vwhereit will be exposed to solar heat the layers. In each instance the sheet is coated on both faces and on one of these faces wear material such as crushed slate vor the like Y is shown partially embedded in the coating.

The materials of which the layers of this sheet material are madeA consist of fibre, and a plastic substance capable of hardening.

Fibrousfmaterials suitable for the' purpose include asbestos, cocoanut fibrefwood fibre,z. bagasse, wool felt scrap and `other similarv products of that character.l Various plastic f substances may be used but I prefer to use those of a bituminous character, such as asphalt. The type of asphalt that will be employed will depend on the use to which the For example, if the asphalt used should have a melting point which will be high enough to prevent solar heat from softeningethe plastic tothe extent that would permit this substance to run.

rThe sheet material may be made up of these ingredients in varying proportions and I prefer to build up a sheet material by joining together layers sheeted out of the mixtures of fibre and plastic, the proportions of these ingredients varying in the different layers which forml ai single sheet. In some i11- stances, it may bedesirable to add filling ma-l terial, suchas clay and'waste paper, and for some purposes it is satisfactory to incorporatey finely divided solid material, such as asbestos sand, infusorial earth, cinders, crushed rock, crushed slate andv the like.`

VIn preparing the sheet material, I prefer to employ a central layer'or layers in Awhich there is la considerably lower amount of fibre present than in theouter layers which form theA facings ofthe sheet, and a typical sheet such asv that illustrated in Figure 3 may consist Vof'five of these layers in which those designated 104and 11 constituting the outer facing layers will contain up to about 50% of fibre and the remainder asphalt, while those designatedrlQ and 13 contain about 25% of fibre vwith thev remainder asphalt,

while the central layer or core 14: contains less and cheaper fibre, a filler, and the remainder asphalt. Preferably the outer layers or facings are relativelyv thinner than the central layer or core, and these outer layers have a high fibre content to form what amounts to a protective jacket over the material which lies between them. In some instances, and particularly when the sheet material is to be converted into roofing elements by a shaping and cutting process, it Vmay be desirable to use an asphalt of lower melting point, which will therefore retain its fluidity longer, in the core or central layer.

As an example of a mixture which is suitable for use in the central layer or core, I may employ asphalt, cinders and paper, a suitable mixture including 8O pounds of paper, 90 pounds of cinders and 150 pounds of asphalt. The paper is first steamed and pulped ina mixer, then mixed with the proper proportionY of dry cinders and the( mass ground in a suitable mill until the cinders are fairly fine andY graded. This Vmixture is then put through a dryer, preferably of the rotary steam-heated type, to remove moisture and then conveyed to a pug mixer where-the proper amount of asphalt is added.

This mixture of paper, cinders andasphalt affords numerous advantages when used as the central layer or core of a sheet to be converte-d into shingles, because the `ingredients' are of low cost, available in large-quantities everywhere, and Va shingle produced from them is semi-rigid, due to the presence of the. cinders, is practically non-absorbent, fairly light in weight, anda good insulator. In addition, such a shingle is resistant to fire and nails can be driven through it without the necessity of preforming holes.V This mixture, when used as the core or central'layer, is capable of being molded to give the shingle the desired final shape and when so used, the

fibrous outer layers may berelatively thin. In the sheet illustrated in Figure 5 the central layer 15 contains thel relatively lower proportion of fibre and the two facing layers 16 and 17 contain'higher amounts of fibre and preferably up to about-50%.l On both sheets'y coatings designated' 18 and 19 are applied, these coatings being' a vwater'- proof' substance,rpreferably asphalt of the desired'melt point.l In the coa-ting 18 inv Fig. 3 there is partially embedded a layer of y granules 20 which may bevcrushed slate;

crushed rock and other similar products or- Y dinarily used to provide wear surfaces, while theI opposite face ofthis sheet may have a coating of a non-stick material, such asptalc 4or the like, applied over the coating. In the product shown in Figure 5, the granular material 2O is appliedY to the coating 19 and partially submerged therein, the granular material shown in these two figures being .appliedin different manners whereby in one instance the granular mate-rial projects beyond the coating, while in the other the surfaces of the granules lie substantially fiush v with the coating. The method by which the granular materials is applied to produce these different effects will be made clear here-v after.

In the production of the new sheet material, t ,the plastic mixtures are preferably made up in advance of actual use, as for instance, by pulverizing the-solid asphalt to the desired iineness and thenmixing this asphalt powder with the desired, amount of libre. The mixture is then-heated to render the? asphalt fluent vand this mixture conveyed to. a device by vwhich it may be 'formed into a sheet.' To build up a finished sheet,v l utilizeeither the apparatus illustrated in Fi ure l or. lFigure 2. l Y

in the apparatus shown in Fig-ure l there are a plurality of standsy 2l of rolls arrangedv preferably `three high in a stand. These rolls are hollow so that they may be steam heated or cooled and lthus maintained at the desired temperature. The rolls Vare power driven and the central and top rolls 22` and 24 preferably are cooled and operate at a higher speed 'of rotation than the bottom roll 23 which is heated.V The vrolls are spaced apart a distance which is dependent uponthe .thickness of the sheet to be Jformed thereby; rl`he plastic miXture is delivered to the stand by a conveyor generally designated 25 and of any suitable construction. This plastic mixture is discharged into a feeding trough 26' which maintains a supply ofthe mixture in Contact with themiddle roll`22` and the bottom roll V23. These rolls rotatie in the direction shown by the arrows.

and the action of the rolls is to drawplastic mixture from the supply through the space between the roll faces. The roll 22 carries with it a layer of the mixture designated 27a.;V and this layer is carried around-the .face of thev roll and passes between that roll and the upper roll 24.` By reason of the rolls 22 and 24being rotated at a higher speed than the roll 23, the actionofthe stand is to discharge the sheet 27 having a thickness determined by the spacing between the rolls 22 and 24 and thissheet `which constitutes one of the outside layers of the nished product, is then led to the neXt stand.

lrrthis stand there arecentral `and top. cooled rolls moving at one speed of rotation and a bottom heated roll movingy at a slower speed. A mixture ofthe desired proportions is delivered by the conveyor 28 to the trough 29 Vand a sheet' 30 is formed, which is carried around the middle roll 31 and applied tothe underface of the sheet 27 as the two sheets pass between the middle roll 31 and. the'upper roll .32. This formation of a sheetandits application to the lower .face of a built-up, sheet previously formed is continued through, out the apparatus until in theapparatus as shown in Figure l there is produced a final sheet 33 made upof live layers and similar to that shown in Figur-e `3. The characterof the sheet wilhof course9 depend upon the proportions of the fibre and plastic material occurring in the several layers thereon, but preferably the sheet-will consist of central:

Vbut carries no granularmaterial.

layers in which thereis a relatively small amount of fibre and two outerlayers on each face. in which the proportion of fibreto asphalt isfrelatively high. Also, it ispreferable to form such a sheet with a core 14 somewhat thicker thanl Vthe other. layers and having a. lower amountA offibre, while the 'twoouter layerslOy andjl-l'are relatively thin and contain .a much larger amount of fibre. t

rThis sheet is capable of' use for many purposes just as it `emerges vfrom the final stand of rollsbut for'roofing and otherconstructionpurposes, it is preferablertovcoat its opposite rfaces with a thin layer "of asphalt. To apply this coating,there is .provided any suitable meehanismysuch as a dischargenozzle 34 delivering asphalt in fluent condition uponl the upper face of the sheetythe nozzle 3:4 hav-v ing a plurality of orifices to insure thatfthe entire face of the sheet will be covered. Beyond the nozzle 34 are placed rolls 35 and 36 y preferably maintained at a suitable temperature to work the asphalt properly. 4The lower roll 36' enters a trough orl vat37 in which asphalt is maintained influent condition and this roll picksup asphalt and delivers it to the under face of' the-sheetl33'.

The two rolls 35 and 36 thus apply an asphaltic coating to the sheet emerging from the lastV stand of rolls.

l If the sheet is also to receive a vfacing of wear material, this can Vbe accomplished'by discharging' granular materialzon the upper face thereof from the discharge mechanism 38, which may be of any ordinary type. The

sheet with this granular layer thereonV then passes beneath a hollow roll 39 through which f the talc intothe coating to complete the ap Y plication of the talc and give the coating an initial set, and from the Iroll 42 the sheet passes to molding drums 43 and 44 if the sheet is to be converted into shingles. o

These drums have, cooperating moldV cavities 45 and 46 in their faces, arranged ifdesired, so as to vary the thickness of the sheet at different points and to shape and Vconsolidate the layers. These molding cavities are also defined bycutting edges of appropriate form which cooperate to lcut the shaped portions from the sheet so that as the, sheet passes 4through thermolding'drums individual Htt roofing elements'47 are discharged therefrom upon a sloping platform A48. Y f

In the kapparatus as shown in Figure 2,the same principles of operation are employed, but the apparatus is modified in certain respects to vary the type of coating that would be produced. I In this apparatus, there area plurality of stands of rolls 21 similar to those used in the type of apparatus previously described, and the plastic material is delivered to the first stand of rolls by Va conveyor 25 discharging into a trough26 which maintains a supplyof material in contact with the middle roll22 and the upper roll 24.` T hisV plastic material is sheeted out bythe action of the rolls and travels aroundthe face of the middle roll in a manner previously described. Contacting with the outer surface of the sheet as it moves around the surfaceof the middle roll vis a coating roll 49 .resting lightly in contact Y.with the sheet, and also contacting with a roll 50 which lies partially in a trough or vat 51 containing the coating material. The roll 50 picks up coating material from the vat 51 and transfers it to the'surface of the yroll 49 Vwhich in turn applies it to the surface of the sheet being carried' around the surface of the roll 22.

Extending from end to end of' the stands of rolls is an endless conveyor belt 52, which passes around guide rolls 53 and54 at its ends. This conveyor belt' may be a canvas webbing or a fine wire mesh and its upper stretch passes between the middle and lower v rolls 22 and 23 of the several stands. As the first layer 27 is formed by the rolls of the f first stand, this layer is carried along on the sheet formed in the vfirst stand of rolls by' surface of thel belt to the next stand, where another layer sheetedout offplastick and fibrous material is applied to itsupper face. The sheet is built up in the manner previously described through the successive .actionof Lthe'stands of rollsrand between each pair of rolls the sheet produced thereinis supported on the surface of the endless belt. As previously described, a layer of coating material is applied to one surfacey of the the roll 49 and this sheet, which is to form onev of the faces `of the final product, preferablyv includes a vrelatively high amount of fibre with respect to the plastic present. Immediately after the coating is applied, the

' granular wear material is also applied and granular material passes through successive plastic layers formed by these devices. In this form of the apparatus, the toproll of each stand is preferably slow and heated while the ytwo bottom rolls are preferably cooler and driven at a higher speed.

The sheeteme'rging from the last .standof rolls shown in Figure 2 consists of five layers made up ofrplast'ic and fibre and it has a coating of asphalt onn its under surface together with a layer of granular wear surfacing. The upper face of the ksheet may now be finishedby the application of a layer of coating material' and for this'v purpose a pair of rolls 56, l57 are provided, the roll 56 run-V ning V'partially in a'vat Aof coating material and delivering that 'material to the ksurface of the roll 57,' which lies lightly in contact i with the uppersurface of thesheet. Beyond the roll 57 a finishing material may be applied if desired as, for example, talc, which mayv -ber delivered on the outer surface of the. coating by a suitable distributing mechanism of any well-known type generally indicated at 58. Beyond this distributing mechyanism,A the sheet passes under a roll 59 which smooths out the coating and embeds the talc or similar material therein, and the sheet may then be used for ordinary rooting purposes such as roll roofing, or it may be converted into shingle units in which it will be delivered to the molding drums 43 previously referred to.

and 44 Y The molding drums employed are similar to those illustrated and described in my Patent No. 1,698,242. These drums have cooperating mold cavities of a shape appropriate vfor the production vof the desired units and the cavities are defined by knife edges so that'coincident withithe shaping and forming operations, the units are severed from the sheet. The drums maybe constructed to produce individual rectangular rshingle units of the tapering form illustrated in Figs. 4 and 6 or they may produce units of other-forms such ras the three unit strip shingle GOshown in Fig. 8. VAn `example of a shinglev of another taper is illustrated in Fig. 7 and designated 61. This shingle has one fiat face 62 `and its end edges 63 and 64 are inclined to the plane of the face 62. These and numerous other shapes maybe given theshingles by the use of appropriate molding devices.

In the molding operation, the core material 14, 17,'being somewhat more fluent `than the material in the outer layers, tends to fiow while the more fibrous layers are notdeformed to so great an extent and retain substantially their original ythickness as indicated in Figs. 4 and 6. i

In Figs. 9 and 10, there are illustrated other and cheaper forms of sheet material useful for various` purposes. The material shown in Fig. 9 is of the three layer typeV with a central layer -65 containing a greater proportion of fibre thanthe outer layers`- 66. Such .a sheet coated with asphalt as at 67 makes a cheap roll roofing; ,It may be gaven the granularl and talc surfaces, if desired.

The sheet material inFig. 10 is also 'cheap to produce and it is suitable for various purposes though not as desirable as `the products previously described. This materialhas two layers 68 'and '69, the lirstcontaining a greater proportion of fibre to asphalt than the second. Thissheet material is given'an asphalt coat-V ingfTO andmay besurfaced with grit and talc, as described. Y i

`ln the shingle shown in Figure 3, the granular material 20 has been applied by the apparatus shown .in Figure 1. The sheet has first-'been formedand then coated and a layer of granular material applied to the surface thereof. Since this granular material is not subjected to severe pressure after its application other than that applied by the molding drums, the granular material is only partially submerged in the coating and projects from the surface thereof. In the product shown in Figure 5, the granular material has been applied, in accordance with the method shown in Figure 2, to the surface of the first layer produced during the formation thereofand this granular substance has therefore been acted on by the rolls of a plurality of stands. This layer is consequently submerged to a somewhat greater eXtent than that shown in Figure 3, but the granules will not be completely submerged, although their upper surfaces lie substantially flush with the layer of coating material over which they have been applied.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 291,638, filed July 10, 1928.

Vhat I claim is l. An apparatus for the manufacture of sheet material which comprises the combination of aseries of calenders for forming plastic material into a sheet, each calender receiving a sheet from the calender next before it in the series and combining that sheet with the one being produced in said calender, means for afiixing a layer of surfacing material to one face of the sheet issuing from the last calender in the group, and means associated with the lirst calender of the series for afiixing a layer of surfacing material to the other face of the sheet.

2. An apparatus for the manufacture of sheet material which comprises the combination of a series of calenders for forming plastic material into sheets, each calender receiving a. plastic sheet from the calender next before it in series and combining that sheet with the one being produced in said calender, and

means for supporting the plastic sheet as it passes from one calender to the next succeeding one of the series.

3. An apparatus for the manufacture of sheet material whi'chcomprises the"combinaz tion of aseriies lof 'calendersifor forming `plastic Vmaterial into sheets, `each 'calender receiving 'a 'sheet'f from the 'calender nextfbeforeit in series and combining `that sheet'witlrthegone i tion lof `a series `of-similar stands "of frolls,

three rolls-in a stand, with "one roll of 'each stand rotating at ay lower speed than' the other two," means forsupplying a plastic mixture-to the bi-ght V*of Ythe rolls rotating 'at different speeds in each stand, `the rotation ofthe rolls producing a slieeupassi'ng vout, between .the rolls rotating at the same speed, means opera'- t-i'velyassociatedwith'each stand'for applying aplastic layer uponlthe sheet 4pas'singto the rolls thereof,-and1means for supporting this sheet andleadin-g it to the lbight of the rolls rotating at the same speed in thenext stand i to be combined witl1"they sheet being formed in that stand. Y. *5. An`l apparatus for the manufacture iof sheet materialwhich comprises'the combina- 1 tion loffa series of similar stands ofrolls, three 'rolls :in Aa stand, Withf one roll` rotating atx a lower speed than the other rolls, .means for .supplying'a plastic miXture to the bight of themiddle and one outer roll ofea'ch'stand, the rotation ofthe-rolls producing yaxsheet passingout between lthe middle roll' and the other of the outer'rolls, and means for ,supe portingjthis sheet and leading it to the 'bight of the middle and outer rolls of the next stand to be combined with the sheet'beingff'ornied in -that stand, said Vsupporting mea-hs being a continuous band. 1 s 'f A l-6. Apparatus for the production of roofing elements and 'the like, which-'comprises the combination cfa series of calendersforforming-plasticA materialpinto a sheet," these calenders being arrangedin lineandeaclrhavingl a pairoffpressing'rolls adapted to rotate Iat the saine speedf and being: operable to :produce`- an individual -sheet= and combine `that sheet with asheet produced-by the calender next priorin the series, means for varying the thickness of selected portions ofthe completed sheet, and Vmeans for cutting saidshapedpor-i tions therefrom. f 1 i i 7; Apparatus for the production vof roofing elements and the"like,"`which comprises'the- Aits @amb-instaat sheet 'with-a shea-tLjpr(aiuti-.dy by the Calender next patria the series thereby fenaingra composite-"plastic sheet,- inea-ns operatively vconnected with the calenders for cooling thel sheet passing through the latter, rotarymeans adapted concurrentlyto shape selected portions of thecomposite sheet to a preselected form of variable thickness and to cutthe formed'portions from the'sheet.

8. Apparatus for the production of roofing elements and the like, which comprises the combination of a series of calenders for forming plastic material into a sheet, these calenders being arranged in line and each beingoperable to produce an individual sheet and combine that sheet Witha sheet produced by the calender next prior in therseries, thereby forming a laminated sheet, and cooperating devices operable to form Vselected portions of the completed sheet to a selected shape of graduated thickness and -to cut said shaped portions therefrom.

f 9. VApparatus for the manufacture of laminated plastic material in sheet form, Which comprises the combination of a series of calenders, each adapted to form plastic material into a sheet, each calender having pressing rolls adapted'to rotate at the same speed and being adapted to receive la'sheet from the calender next before it in series and to combine that sheet by a pressure normally applied thereto With the lone being formed lin tliesaid calender, thereby forming a laminated plastic sheet, and means for applying a coating of surfacing material to one face of vthe iirst sheet formed during its formation.

Y. l0. Apparatus for'the manufacture of plas-- tic material in sheet form Which comp-rises the combination ofra plurality of calenders each adapted to form plastic material into a sheet, the said calenders being arranged in line and driven at the same rate to form sheets, whereby the sheet formed lin each calender is united as a skim coating to theV f Y sheet produced inthe next preceding calender in the series during formationof the lat-l ter, such union being eifected by pressure normally applied to the surface of the sheets.

ILApparatus adapted for the manufacture of a laminated sheet from plasticl material,vvvhich comprises aseries of" aligned cale-nders having pressing rolls and a feed roll and adapted to sheet outa plastic mass, means associated with each calender for feedf ing a heateplastic mass to that calender, means for passing the sheet formed in each calender to the next calender in line and into pressing engagement with the Sheetbeing formed by the last-named calender to form a skim coat of plastic upon the last-named sheet, and means for cooling the pressing rolls ofeach calender.y

12. Apparatus Vadapted for the manufacture of a laminated'sheet from plastic mate-` y rialfwhich comprisesa series of'aligned calen. lders having .pressing rolls and feed rolls and adapted to'sheet out a plastic mass, means asheat-plastic means to that calender, means for passing the sheetformed in each calender to the next calender in line and into pressing engagement With the sheet being formed by the (last-named calender to form a skim coat of plastic upon the last-named sheet,` means y for cooling the pressing rolls of each calender, means for disposing a 'coating of Wearresistant material on at leastione surface of the compositeplastic sheet, and means for concurrently forcing the wear-resistant material'into the'plastic surface of the-sheet and for cooling the sheet to give it a surface set and forsecurely bonding thereto ythe Wearresistant material. f In testimony whereof I afx my signature.

- THOMAS ROBINSON. Y

sociated `with each calender for feeding a 

